Art. II.—The Great Stũpa at Sāñchi-Kānākheḍā

Jas. Burgess

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00157065

Art. II.—The Great Stũpa at Sāñchi-Kānākheḍā

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

Jas. Burgess

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Among the ancient monuments of India, few are of more interest than the tōps or stūpas at Sāñchi - Kānākheḍā, about 5½ miles south-west from Bhelsā or Bhilsā, in the Gwāliar territory, and some 20 miles north-east of the capital of the Bhopāl State. There is now a railway station close to the spot, and most of the trains stop there. The various notices of the remains here are scattered in numerous publications, and some notice of them may perhaps be usefully combined with the history of the stūpas since their discovery.

Type: Original Communications
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , January 1902 , pp. 29 - 45

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00157065 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1902

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^{page 29 note 1} Lat. 23° 28′ N. and long. 77° 48′ E., in the Diwānganj subdivision of the Bhopāl State.

^{page 29 note 2} Cunningham's Bhilsa Topes, p. 184.

^{page 29 note 3} Cunningham's statement (Bhilsa Topes, p. 186) that the whole structure must have been upwards of 100 feet in height, was an error: his restored elevation measures only 77½ feet, and General Maisey's 72 feet. Cf. Sanchi and its Remains, p. 6.

^{page 30 note 1} Bhilsa Topes, p. 186.

^{page 30 note 2} This gives an average diameter at the top of the ramp of 106 ft. 1 in. It may he noted that the older Nepāl chaityas are mostly hemispherical: Wright, Hist, of Nepāl, pls. iv, ix, x, and xi. Cf. Oldfield, Sketches from Nipāl, vol. ii, p. 206; and Notes on the Bauddha Rock-temples of Ajanta (Bombay, 1879), p. 103Google Scholar. A stūpa excavated by Mr. Caddy in Swāt, in 1896, was also hemispherical.

^{page 30 note 3} A smaller monolith, 15 ft. 2 in. high, stood on the south of the east gateway, and was still entire in 1852 or later. It seems to have disappeared by 1882. See Maisey, Sanchi and its Remains, p. 73, and pl. xxxiii, fig. 2; Cunningham, Bhilsa Topes, p. 199 and pl. vii.

^{page 31 note 1} See Maisey's Sanchi, p. 14, and pl. xiv, fig. 1.

^{page 32 note 1} It is possible that the figure that stood here fifty years ago was not the original; a seated figure probably occupied the place in a.d. 450, when “the four seated Buddhas” are mentioned (Fleet, Corp. Inscr. Ind., vol. iii, p. 262); but is this now the original, or was it the figure of which the head with a large nimbus is now in a cell on the terrace?

^{page 32 note 2} Maisey's Sanchi, p. 6, and pl. xv, 10; Cunningham's Bhilsa Topes, p. 191 f.

^{page 32 note 3} In almost all chaityas or stūpas, seated figures of the Dhyāni Buddhas are placed in niches round the base of the dome or garbha, facing the cardinal points. Akshobhya occupies the niche on the eastern face, Ratnasambhava is on the southern, Amitābha is on the western, and Amoghasiddha on the northern face. Vairochana's place is the centre of the garbha; but he is often placed on the east of the hemisphere, close to the right side of Amitābha. Cf. Buddhist Art, p. 195; Notes on the Bauddha Rock-temples at Ajanta, pp. 98, 99; Oldfield's Sketches from Nipāl, vol. ii, p. 214.

^{page 33 note 1} These measurements have mostly been supplied by Mr. Cousens.

^{page 33 note 2} Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. iii, p. 489.

^{page 34 note 1} Ibid., vol. iii, pp. 490–494.

^{page 34 note 2} Cunningham's Bhilsa Topes, pp. 185, 275.

^{page 34 note 3} Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. iv, p. 712.

^{page 34 note 4} Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xvi, p. 746; Bhilsa Topes, pp. 183, 269, 285.

^{page 35 note 1} Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. iii, pp. 411, 481 f., 488, and pl. xxvii. This drawing, at first sight, might suggest such a sculpture as that on the middle architrave of the south gateway, but a comparison at once shows that in every detail the representation is imaginary.

^{page 35 note 2} Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. vi, pp. 451 f.

^{page 35 note 3} Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xvi, pp. 739–763.

^{page 35 note 4} In 1847 Lieut. Maisey had submitted an illustrated report on the antiquities of Kālinjar, which was subsequently printed, with eighteen plates, in the Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. xvii, pp. 171–201; and see Maisey's Sanchi and its Remains.

^{page 36 note 1} Bhilsa Topes, p. 297. Śāriputra and Maudgalyāyana are known as the right- and left-hand sthaviras of Gautama Buddha. They died before their master, and in Ceylon and Siam are usually represented standing by his side.—Buddhist Art in India (Engl. vers.), pp. 182, 211.

^{page 36 note 2} Maisey : Sanchi and its Remains, p. 1.

^{page 37 note 1} Rep. Arch. Sure. India, vol. x, pp. 55–65, and pls. xx–xxii.

^{page 38 note 1} In the second edition reduced lithographs of six drawings of the faces of the gateways, made by Major Cole, were introduced. The originals must have been on a larger scale, and might have proved valuable, but they cannot now be traced. The account of Sāñchi in Mr. Fergusson's History of Indian and Eastern Architecture (1876), pp. 60–65. 92–99, 105, was based on the preceding work.

^{page 38 note 2} Major H. H. Cole's Third Report on Conservation, app., p. xciv.

^{page 38 note 3} Resolution Govt. India, Home Dept., No. 14/931 of 24th February, 1868; and see Actes du Sième Congrès Internat. des Orientalistes (Stockholm, 1889)Google Scholar, see. ii, p. 34.

^{page 39 note 1} Major Cole's Report for 1881–82, app., p. clxi.

^{page 39 note 2} These appear in the photographs published by Major Cole and Sir Lepel Griffin, but seem to have been removed since 1889.

^{page 40 note 1} Great Buddhist Tope at Sanchi (1885), 11 plates; eight of the plates are reproduced in India: Photographs and Drawings of Historical Buildings (Griggs, 1896)Google Scholar, plates 41–48, and six in Ancient Monuments, etc., of India, pt. i (1897), among plates xxxv to liii, illustrative of Sāñchi.

^{page 40 note 2} In the India Office there are 75 negatives of photographs from Sāñchi, They form part of a collection of over 3,000, representing Indian antiquities, of which prints can be procured.

^{page 40 note 3} Buddhist Art in India, p. 25; Epigraphia Indica, vol. ii, p. 88.

^{page 41 note 1} Fergusson: Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 101.

^{page 41 note 2} Epigr. Ind., vol. ii, p. 366; Fleet, Corp. Inscr. Ind., vol. iii, p. 31. In Cunningham, Bhilsa Topes, pp. 241, 288, 347, Kākaṇāva has been mistaken for a personal name.

^{page 41 note 3} Buddhaghosa (cir. 420 a.d.) calls the place Wessanagara, and the Mahāwanso (cir. 470 a.d.) has Chetiyagiri: Turnour, Mahāwanso, p. 76. V. Smith, in his Asoka, p. 163, gives Vedisagirī instead of Chetiyagirī.

^{page 41 note 4} Epigr. Ind., vol. ii, p. 367.

^{page 42 note 1} Epigr. Ind., vol. ii, pp. 369, 370.

^{page 42 note 2} Fleet: Corp. Inscr. Ind., vol. iii, pp. 29 f., 260 f. Cf. J.R.A.S., vol. vi (o.s.), pp. 246 f.

^{page 42 note 3} 2nd edition, Berlin, 1900; Buddhist Art in India, English translation, considerably enlarged, London (B. Quaritch), 1902Google Scholar.

^{page 44 note 1} Buddhist Art in India (transl.), p. 38.

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Art. II.—The Great Stũpa at Sāñchi-Kānākheḍā

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